The Edo State House of Assembly has passed a resolution granting Governor Monday Okpebholo’s request to hire a consultant to help the state recover funds.
This decision was made during a plenary session on Thursday.
The resolution follows a letter from Governor Okpebholo to the Speaker of the House, Blessing Agbebaku, requesting permission to hire a consultant to review, reconcile, and recover funds due to Edo State from the Federal Government of Nigeria, specifically regarding the Gazelle project.
According to the letter, the Federal Government borrowed $3.3 billion from Afrix Eximbank (AFEX) to settle foreign exchange obligations, with the loan backed by future crude oil sales.
The loan, codenamed “Project Gazelle,” aims to enhance Nigeria’s macroeconomic stability and long-term economic growth.
The consultant’s role will be to help Edo State recover its share of the funds, ensuring timely receipt of payments due to the state.
The Executive Council of the State approved the hiring of a consultant during a meeting on February 12, 2025.
“May, I also inform Mr. Speaker that the project Gazelle as stated above is a crude oil backed, forwaysale structured finance facility sponsored by NNPC Ltd, which acts as the seller and sponsor. The NNPC in this transaction promises to repay AFEX with crude oil, equivalent to the principal borrowed plus interest element of 11.85% annual percentage yield.
“Mr. Speaker, may also wish to know that this borrowing by NNPC from AFEX is backed by its future sales of crude oil and as a collateral, Nigeria will deliver to AFEX 90,000 barrels of crude oil per day from 2024 until 2029.
“May, I inform the Honourable speaker that at the meetings of the Executive Council of the state duly convened and held on February 12, 2025, the following resolutions were proposed and duly passed as approvals of the council.
“Approved the need for Edo State to join other states of the Federation to review, reconcile and recover the amount due to Edo State Government from Gazelle AFREXIM loan and any other crude oil loan arrangement and the deduction at source of 10% as professional fee”.